CHARLESTON, W.Va. —Â Questions of timing are part of the road funding debate at the State Capitol which is one portion of larger negotiations on the budget for the 2018 Fiscal Year.
Sooner is better, according to the state official in charge of roads.
“I’m not a politician, I’m an engineer and what I see is the terrible need that we have for our roads now,” said Tom Smith, secretary of the West Virginia Department of Transportation, on Friday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”
Governor Jim Justice has been an advocate of passage of a package of bills to generate as much as $130 million annually for road work to start.
That would grow to as much as $2 billion eventually with subsequent voter passage of a bond issue.
That package includes raising fuel taxes by seven to eight cents per gallon along with Division of Motor Vehicles fees, which had support from the Senate during the 2017 Regular Legislative Session, plus tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike.
House leaders have said they’re willing to support the tax and fee increases if voters approve the road bond first.
The Legislature has already passed a resolution authorizing a road bond vote so, they’ve argued, Governor Justice could potentially call for an election within 90 days.
Once approved, the Legislature could then pass the taxes needed to pay for the bonds.
Justice, Senate leaders and others in the road construction industry want the tax increases first and then the vote on the bond.
Smith has been on the job for more than three months, a time that he calls “a whirlwind.”
“Almost every day there’s more bad news as far as not being able to do the stuff we need to, but with Governor Justice’s plan, we think there’s a real shot to make a real difference with our infrastructure which is sorely in need of work,” he said.
In addition to more than $200 million in road projects slated for this year, Smith would like to see enough funding for, what he’s calling, a “surge” made up of $30 million in projects for 2018.
“I trust the voters of West Virginia,” Smith said of the potential bond vote.
Such a vote, he noted, takes time.
“What I am saying is, without revenues showing up sooner rather than later, we can’t get the work done that we really need to get done now and putting this work off, deferring it, makes it so it costs more later.”
A Special Session for budget work is scheduled to resume Monday at the State Capitol.
“We are very hopeful that folks will come together and come to some good solutions that allow us to invest in infrastructure,” said Smith.
“We are just falling further and further behind (on road projects).”